Craps

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Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is approximately 100 years old. Modern craps formed from the ancient Anglo game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for certain the birth of the game, but Hazard is said to have been created by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It is theorized that Sir William’s knights bet on Hazard during a blockade on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the castle’s name.

Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when exiled by the English, the French moved south and settled in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they brought their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it mathematically fair. It is said that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which is acquired from the term for the non-winning throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi riverboats and throughout the nation. A good many consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn assembled the modern craps setup. He created the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to not win. At another time, he designed the boxes for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.